I’m of two minds about Matt Zurbo’s 2025 picture book If I Could…
My initial response was, I’m sorry to say, negative. The cover image of the babe and butterfly in front of the moon seemed so wispy and gentle it registered like a Hallmark card. Granted, that would be Patrice Barton’s illustrations, rather than the writing, but when I opened the book, the content seemed similar. It was well-intentioned. The parental love Zurbo expresses for kids feels real at all times. However, the writing is overly simple at times, both in idea and execution. Again, there’s nothing but good intentions here, but little more. The larger structure works well, opening with wishing to give the child the moon, and closing by giving it the world, then reversing to observe “But it’s already yours.”
But in between, both the ideas and the wording fade in and out, like a signal on an old radio. The idea about giving the kid “the smallest piece of my loneliness,” so they can know its power? Very strong. But the page on storms that claims “all weather is good weather”? Please. That’s the kind of covering over facts that weakens children’s books. What about lightning? Snow? Harsh winds?
I understand the impulse to soften the world’s edges, but I kept feeling like this was seeing the world through a gauzy lens.
I feel sentimental about kids, I do. But…
(To be fair, I should mention I may be in a minority. Zurbo’s I Got a Rocket was made into a cartoon that won an Emmy, and Barton has illustrated twenty books.)
